Secrets and Lies
by Shipper Utopia
Summary: What secrets are hidden in a small Southern town? Bobbie/Sturgis, Harm/Mac


Secrets and Lies  
  
The tall brunette Lieutenant Colonel got out of the passenger side of the black Ford government-issued sedan. "Shazzam. I think I'm in Mayberry." She whispered to her friend that was getting out of the driver's side.  
  
"Well, this town gives me the creeps. Let's just go to the hotel, get two rooms, and order some room service." The tall dark Commander told her.  
  
"Are you kidding? First of all, you saw that hotel. You really think that it has room service? It looks like a neglected, somewhat smaller, double of the Bates motel."  
  
"You have an over-active imagination." He said, smiling at her.  
  
"Comes from hanging around Harm and Bud." She said, referring to two other JAG lawyers in their office. "Second of all, even if they do have room service, a bottle of water is probably fifteen dollars. I think there was a diner in that gas station about a half a mile back there."  
  
"You'd actually eat food out of a gas station? Well, Harm says you eat anything, I don't know why I'm surprised." She crossed her eyes at him. "All right. We'll go pick up something, take it back to the rooms to eat, and call Harm and Bobbie." He said, referring to their boss and his girlfriend. "That way we won't miss check-in time."  
  
"I can't believe Harm gave us a check-in time. Like we were two junior officers or something."  
  
"He worries. Come on, let's go get some rooms." Sarah MacKenzie walked into the hotel office with Sturgis Turner. "We'd like two rooms please."  
  
"Only have the one left." The hotel manager said.  
  
"Does it have two beds?" Mac asked.  
  
"Just the one."  
  
Turner pulled Mac aside. "We're going to have to drive to the next town that has a hotel and, if I remember right, it's nearly an hour from here."  
  
"Why? There's got to be a chair or something in the room. If it makes you more comfortable, I'll hang a sheet or a couple of towels or something. Neither of us can make that drive." She looked at the hotel manager. "We'll take it." The manager looked skeptical, but took the voucher. "Room 13."  
  
"Do you want to drive back to the station?" Turner asked after they'd gotten their bags moved inside.  
  
"No. I think we can walk. It might wake us up." He nodded and they took off on a brisk walk to the gas station that Mac had seen earlier.  
  
The doorbell rang and Commander Harmon Rabb, Jr., stood to answer it. "Who's there?"  
  
"Bobbie." The tired congresswoman, Bobbie Latham, said through the door.  
  
He opened the door and let her inside. "What are you doing out this late?"  
  
"I'm getting worried. He promised he'd let me know something at nine o'clock. That was two hours ago."  
  
"I know. There's no way they wouldn't check in and Mac's got her cell phone with her, as well as Sturgis's cell phone and pager and the car phone. No answer at any of them."  
  
"And the Admiral's not here." She said, despairingly.  
  
"Well, you're off tomorrow, right?" She nodded. "And Bud can handle the office. We'll go look for them…but for once, do what I tell you. If you get hurt, Sturgis would kill me."  
  
At dawn the next morning, Harm was the one to spot the car parked at the hotel. "Oh, man, if they fell asleep before they called in…" He said as they got out and walked into the office. "Excuse me. My name is Commander Rabb. This is Ms. Latham." He had decided before that it would be easier to pretend she wasn't a Congresswoman, unless they needed her clout. "I was wondering if you'd seen a tall brunette woman, brown eyes, Marine uniform, with a tall, black man, Navy uniform?"  
  
"Well, it's the funniest thing. They got a room together and then just disappeared."  
  
Bobbie spoke up before Harm got a chance. "Can you let us have the key to the room?"  
  
The manager slid the key over. "Room 13."  
  
"Their stuff is here, but the bed hasn't been slept in." Harm said, inspecting the room as carefully as a lab technician would have.  
  
"Well, they wouldn't leave their stuff and the car behind, so they have to be around here somewhere. Let's go see if we can get any more help than that manager."  
  
"Bobbie, this is a small Southern town. Let me go feel the waters and then I'll come back and get you." She started to protest, but remembered what Harm had said.  
  
Mac awoke to find her wrists and ankles bound with rope like she was a piece of livestock. She tried to scream, but found she didn't have the energy. What the hell am I doing here? Oh, yeah, the rednecks. I don't know what they did after I was out, but it hurts. Where's Sturgis? He was lying on the ground last I remember. How bad did they hurt him?  
  
The sun's broiling. I cannot believe that I am a Commander in the United States Navy and they are keeping me here like some caged animal. Bobbie. What happened to Bobbie after we didn't call in last night? Please, Bobbie, go get Harm or Dad. Don't try to do anything stupid like coming to look for us by yourself. What about Mac? What did those drunken rednecks do to her? He wasn't sure what he should hope for: that they came back so they wouldn't be hurting Mac or that they stayed away so they wouldn't whip him anymore. 


End file.
